Melanie Caldwell worked for Stingray Products, Inc. Her boss was Neil Manley. Neil often made disparaging remarks about Melanie’s gender and even occasionally made overtly sexual remarks about how she did business with clients. He also put coins in his front pants pockets and asked her to retrieve them, dropped things and asked her to bend over to pick them up, and at one point offered to negotiate a raise for her if she would go to a hotel room with him to perform “sexual favors.” Manley at times had also engaged in similar behavior with other female employees of Stingray. Caldwell asked Manley repeatedly to stop his behavior. At one point he expressed surprise that Caldwell was upset by his behavior in that he said he was just joking when he made the comments. Finding out that it upset her, he said he would stop his behavior. Shortly thereafter, however, Manley again engaged in his troubling comments and activities toward Caldwell. As a result, Caldwell quit her job. She then filed suit in federal district courtagainst Stingray Products, Inc., claiming that the treatment she encountered at the hands of Manley created an "abusive work environment" in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Stingray countered that the harassment had not been severe enough to seriously affect her psychologically or impair her ability to work, and that it therefore did not create an abusive work environment under the meaning of Title VII. What would a court consider in attempting to decide this case, what should it ultimately decide, and why?
Melanie Caldwell worked for Stingray Products, Inc. Her boss was Neil Manley. Neil often made disparaging remarks about Melanie’s gender and even occasionally made overtly sexual remarks about how she did business with clients. He also put coins in his front pants pockets and asked her to retrieve them, dropped things and asked her to bend over to pick them up, and at one point offered to negotiate a raise for her if she would go to a hotel room with him to perform “sexual favors.” Manley at times had also engaged in similar behavior with other female employees of Stingray. Caldwell asked Manley repeatedly to stop his behavior. At one point he expressed surprise that Caldwell was upset by his behavior in that he said he was just joking when he made the comments. Finding out that it upset her, he said he would stop his behavior. Shortly thereafter, however, Manley again engaged in his troubling comments and activities toward Caldwell. As a result, Caldwell quit her job. She then filed suit in federal district courtagainst Stingray Products, Inc., claiming that the treatment she encountered at the hands of Manley created an "abusive work environment" in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Stingray countered that the harassment had not been severe enough to seriously affect her psychologically or impair her ability to work, and that it therefore did not create an abusive work environment under the meaning of Title VII. What would a court consider in attempting to decide this case, what should it ultimately decide, and why?
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